The Beautiful You

Fifteen - Fight or Flight

I hadn't seen or spoken to Amory in a couple of weeks. I've caught glimpses of him in the hallways, but every time our eyes met, he would dart off in the opposite direction. So, he was ignoring me.

Well, I could ignore him too.

But today was also the day of homecoming, and I would see him as Mei's date. If he approached me, I would act nonchalant. And try not appear too obvious about the fact my head swirled with thought of him nonstop, all week.

Subtle, cool, and collected.

April rested her head on my shoulder and raised her arm up, holding her phone. "Smile," she ordered. I grinned as she held up a 'peace' sign with her two fingers. Instead of getting ready with Mei, April decided to get ready with me and meet everyone at the dance.

We were currently sat outside the gym, waiting for our friends to arrive. April scrolled the her phone, humming a tune all to herself. Usually, she's bouncing off the walls at school events, but she could tell I wanted to leave. Yet, she didn't mention anything. She pretended not to notice, or she didn't care.

Lee dashed down the hall, flailing his arms around, grabbing our attention. Lee planned to miss the dance, but a girl in his calculus class asked him out. So, Lee—who has never had to reject a girl in his life, except for Mei—didn't know how to kindly reject this random girl in his class.

"Lee, you look surprisingly good!" April said, patting his back.

"Thanks," he panted, "I did it myself."

The music started blasting as we entered the gym. "Mei would be so proud to see she rubbed off on you," April said, shouting over the music.

"Where is she anyway?" He asked.

"She texted me from the bathroom! She needs to like freshen up every half-hour because of sweat or something," April said.

"She is a sweaty girl," he bellowed.

I looked around the space, and I noticed that everyone was grasping their phones and dancing to the music. There was a group of guys in the center of the dance floor, fist pumping and jumping to the music. I realized it was the guys from the soccer team as their dates shuffled outside the circle.

The decorations for homecoming were old. I could tell because we had utilized them for a jazz band fundraiser. Music bars hung above us, and quarter notes scattered the walls. It was underwhelming, but expected. I kept glancing at the entrance every few seconds, hoping to see a familiar face.

"Are you hungry?" April asked. "We can go outside and grab some—"

"No, I'm good."

April glanced around the dingy gymnasium, craning her neck over the crowd of people ahead of us. "Uhm, I think he's around here somewhere. I'm sure he'll come find you," April said.

"What?"

"Levi? You're worried about him, right? I thought that was who you kept looking for," she scoffed.

"No! I'm not. I just— I feel awkward—I can't dance, its dark, and there's too many—too many people..." My hands trembled as I my mind grew clouded. "Crowded..." I trailed off.

My body swayed back, losing my footing, and a pair of arms grabbed my shoulders. Their grip was firm, and it drew my attention back to April's worried expression. Her hands were touching my head as I turned to see who was holding me.

"It's fine. We can take a break now," Lee said, loosening his grip. He cleared his throat and appeared embarrassed to be clutching me.

"Sorry," I murmured.